LAW enforcement agencies have been called in to investigate allegations of municipal infrastructure vandalism that recently left parts of eThekwini without water.

Suspecting the incidents may be politically motivated, eThekwini Municipality Mayor Cyril Xaba and City Manager Musa Mbhele called on residents to report suspicious activity around municipal infrastructure.

Xaba said the City recently responded to an incident of suspected vandalism in Westville, which also affected water supply to parts of Ntuzuma and Inanda.

“The main concern about the ongoing vandalism of infrastructure is that these criminal acts are causing prolonged water outages and disrupting essential services, costing the City resources that could be invested in improving service delivery,” said Xaba.

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He urged residents to report any suspicious activity to the relevant authorities. “Safeguarding these vital assets is a shared responsibility,” added Xaba.

Mbhele echoed the mayor’s concerns, saying residents ultimately bear the brunt when water and electricity infrastructure is tampered with.

“We are pleading with our people that if they see something suspicious, even if the individuals are wearing the City’s uniform, they must remain vigilant and take down the registration number of the vehicle they are travelling in,” said Mbhele.

“This will help police deal with those responsible for closing the valves. They know very well that when they do this, it takes the City a couple of days to locate and fix the problem.”

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Mbhele said the timing of the alleged acts of vandalism was suspicious. “Why is this happening now, when we are three months away from the elections?” asked Mbhele.

“The pattern is very clear. There are people doing this for certain political gains, which is unfortunate. They want the City to be seen as unable to deliver services. People must remember that before the election date was announced, these incidents were very few. However, as soon as the election date was announced, these incidents began to increase.”

He said the municipality was working closely with law enforcement agencies to investigate the incidents. “We are engaging law enforcement agencies on this matter and using the legislation at our disposal to open cases against those found vandalising municipal infrastructure.

“We want to make examples of them by taking them to task. The police are working tirelessly on this matter, and it is only a matter of time before the remaining suspects are apprehended,” said Mbhele.

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